Submissions open on Equal Pay Amendment Bill

Submissions are now being accepted on the newly proposed pay equity legislation. 

The deadline to make a submission on the Equal Pay Amendment Bill 2018 is 28 November 2018. 

The proposed legislation is intended to make it easier for workers to file a pay equity claim within New Zealand’s existing bargaining framework.

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway said: 

"... the Bill followed all the recommendations of the reconvened and original Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles."

Dr Jackie Blue, Equal Employment Opportunities and Women’s Rights Commissioner, welcomed the proposed legislation while calling for additional, more proactive approaches to addressing pay equity.

For more information about the new legislation see:

• Fact sheet: A just and practical pay equity framework from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment and the Ministry for Women
• Equal Pay Amendment Bill 2018 Digest
• Departmental disclosure statement
• Regulatory impact assessment 
• Our previous news story, Pay equity updates: Oranga Tamariki social workers, bill and action plan

For background information on pay equity and the gender pay gap see the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment and the Ministry for Women.

For research and information about the links between pay equity and violence against women see our previous story.